Angela Lyman, age 16, of St. Augustine, Fla.,, for her question:

WHO WAS VIRGINIA DARE?

Virginia Dare is the name of the first baby to be born of English parents in the American colonies. It happened in 1587.

An English explorer and soldier named Sir Walter Raleigh sent a group of colonists to North America. They established a colony and named it Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I, who was called the Virgin Queen. The governor was an Englishman named John White.

The colonists settled on Roanoke Island, which is off present day North Carolina. On Aug. 18, about a month after they arrived, a baby girl was born to Ananias Dare, a member of the governor's staff, and his wife Elinor, who was the governor's daughter.

Nine days later the governor sailed for England and a war with Spain broke out. Communications were broken. It wasn't until four years later that a team left England to see how the colonists were doing. There was no trace of the colonists or Virginia Dare. None of the inhabitants were ever found.